Tag: Ariel Helwani

Pitbull vs. Sanchez 2 live stream, Bellator 255 fight card, how to watch tonight

Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire will meet Emmanuel Sanchez in the main event of Bellator 255 on Friday night, stream all the action here.

Bellator MMA is back and will kick off its 2021 season on Friday, April 2 with a huge fight featuring Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire facing Emmanuel Sanchez in the main event. This will be a rematch of their 2018 fight that Pitbull won in a unanimous decision, this time Pitbull will be putting his belt on the line against Sanchez in the 145-pound title fight on Friday.

The prelims will start at 6 p.m. ET with the main card to follow at around 9 p.m. ET and will air on both SHOWTIME and fuboTV.

This is an absolutely stacked card tonight and this should be a good one to start Bellator on Showtime, below is everything you need to know to follow the action tonight!

Bellator 255: Pitbull vs. Sanchez 2

  • Date: Friday, April 2
  • Location: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut.
  • Prelims: 6:00 pm ET
  • Main Card: 9:00 pm ET
  • Live Stream: SHOWTIME (stream now)

Bellator 255 fight card

Main Card (9 PM ET, SHOWTIME)

  • Featherweight Title: Patricio ‘Pitbull’ Freire vs. Emmanuel Sanchez
  • Welterweight: Neiman Gracie vs. Jason Jackson
  • Heavyweight: Jack May vs. Tyrell Fortune
  • Lightweight: Usman Nurmagomedov vs. Mike Hamel
  • Women’s Flyweight: Alejandra Lara vs. Kana Watanabe

Prelims (5 PM ET, SHOWTIME)

  • Bantamweight: Cee Jay Hamilton vs. Magomed Magomedov
  • Welterweight: Herman Terrado vs. Mukhamed Berkhmov
  • Middleweight: Khalid Murtazaliev vs. Fabio Aguiar
  • 160-pound Catchweight: Roger Huerta vs. Chris Gonzalez
  • Light Heavyweights: Jonathan Wilson vs. Jose Augusto
  • Welterweight: Trevor Gudde vs. Roman Faraldo
  • Middleweight: Branko Busick vs. Jordan Newman

Bellator Exclusively on SHO

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How ESPN and UFC got wrapped up in the Gina Carano controversy, explained

This continues to make headlines.

Welcome to FTW Explains: a guide to catching up on and better understanding stuff going on in the world.

By now, you may be familiar with what’s going on with actress Gina Carano, who was fired from the Disney+ hit The Mandalorian last week due to an offensive post on Instagram that compared conservatives in the United States to how Jews were treated in the Holocaust.

But now, there are journalists, the UFC and ESPN wrapped up in the controversy. And if you’re wondering why the heck that would be the case, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s break it down:

What’s this now about Carano?

Our Hemal Jhaveri looked at not just that post, but many others from Carano that are so awful. This wasn’t just an isolated incident.

So why is the UFC getting involved?

Because Carano used to be an MMA fighter.

Wait, she was?

Yeah! You may have forgotten that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOAs68YcTzs

What did Dana White have to say?

Per MMA Junkie, from Friday:

“Leave Gina alone,” White said. “Listen, we make mistakes. We all make mistakes. For everybody to go in on her – I love how Ariel Helwani made it all about him. It was all about him. Such a douche.”

Hold on, what’s this about Ariel Helwani?

Helwani is a journalist for ESPN who covers MMA. And this isn’t the first time we’ve seen White call him out — in 2016, Helwani said he was banned for life from covering UFC events, which the reporter said was due to being “too negative” with his coverage. The UFC eventually lifted the ban.

What’s also important here is that Helwani is Jewish. He addressed Carano’s statements on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CLK0DucBM7G/?utm_source=ig_embed

“As a Jewish person, and as a human being, it doesn’t sit well. And I wish she would have never posted that, and quite frankly I wish someone would have talked to her about her social media posts over the past year, some of them not even political. Just in general, they felt off to me. And I am sorry she has gone down this path.”

Did anyone at ESPN back him up?

Yes:

ESPN later did release a statement (via MMA Junkie):

“Ariel is a valued colleague and an exceptional MMA reporter. His record speaks for itself.”

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